Monthly Archives: March 2014

12.Apr.2014 Washington Square Ensemble Concert: Cuckson, Hoffman, Karchin, Lee, Oliver

Washington Square Ensemble performs:

ROBERT CUCKSON Piano Quintet (1993)
ELIZABETH HOFFMAN Silky (2014) Premiere
LOUIS KARCHIN Ancient Scenes (2013) Premiere
YOON-JI LEE 찌리릿 (ZZi-ri-rit) (2013) Premiere
JAIME OLIVER grid1 (2014) Premiere

Please join us for our second concert on Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 8 PM at the Tenri Cultural Institute. The Washington Square Ensemble presents premieres in a fascinating range of musical styles by some of the most vital composers working in New York. Composer ROBERT CUCKSON’s Piano Quintet is a Bergsonian meditation on the creation of artistic form, starting from inchoate inspiration, and ending with retrospection. It references paintings by Soulages, Lichtenstein, Newman, and Fairweather. ELIZABETH HOFFMAN‘s Silky is a series of timbre studies that deal with ideas of reflection and projection, and composite sound images in space. Ancient Scenes, an extended vocal-instrumental cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble by LOUIS KARCHIN, will receive its world premiere performance with soprano Sharon Harms. Three instrumental movements frame four vocal ones based on poetry of the late Nobel Prize-winning poet, Seamus Heaney. Korean composer YOON-JI LEE, based in Brooklyn, took her motivation for composing this piece from the Korean word 찌리리(zzi-riri), meaning “electrifying.” Grid1 marks a return to acoustic instruments for composer JAIME OLIVER, combining them with electronic processes. The players perform with a computer system that listens and interacts, a system that the players only partially control.

8.Apr.14 Levy Lorenzo presents on Electronic Musical Instrument Design & Performance

Electronic Musical Instrument Design & Performance

- by Levy Lorenzo -

WHEN: Tuesday, April 8th, 6:00PM (composition seminar activity)
WHERE: NYU Music Department
24 Waverly Place, Room 220, NY 10003

abstract

Percussionist (D.M.A.) and Electronics Engineer (M.Eng.), Levy Lorenzo will present his work designing and performing new electronic musical instruments. Levy aims to build tools for accessing electronic sound via gesture in an embodied, yet non-idiosyncratic manner. He creates new instruments to find new electronic music, rather than specific devices that are intended for specific compositions. In his approach, he emphasizes learning, practiced virtuosity and developing new idioms for the live performance of computer music. Coupled with the engineering process, Levy actively engages with the instruments in the process of strengthening his technical and conceptual virtuosity over time. He also invites other musicians to learn and compose for these instruments.

bio

Filipino-American, Levy Lorenzo, is an electronics engineer and percussionist. He performs and composes live-electronic music using new, custom electronic musical instruments that he invents. His electronics work has been featured at STEIM, the Guthman Competition, ICMC, ISIM, the G4TV network, Pitchfork.com, Slashdot.org, the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, the New York Times and BBC Ecuador. Also an active performer of modern classical music for percussion, Levy has performed at the Yellowbarn, Darmstadt and Ensemble Moderne Academy festivals. He is the co-founder of theater/percussion/electronics duo – Radical 2. Levy is also a sound engineer specializing the design and performance of complete electro-acoustic concerts – he is the sound & electronics engineer for the International Contemporary Ensemble, where he also plays percussion. Levy has worked as an engineer at Bose and currently works at Leo Villareal Studio and Ligorano-Reese Studio building custom large-scale electronic LED installations. He holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Cornell University. He also holds a Master of Music degree from Stony Brook University in Percussion Performance, where he is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate. [www.levylorenzo.com]

1.Apr.14 Evening Demo with Mara Helmuth: Interactive Music System Design for Irresistible Flux

Interactive Music System Design for Irresistible Flux

- by Mara Helmuth -

WHEN: Tuesday, April 1st, 6:00PM (composition seminar activity)
WHERE: NYU Music Department
24 Waverly Place, Room 220, NY 10003

abstract

An interactive performance system has been created for a composition for instrumentalist and live electronics. The computer part is performed with MaxMSP and RTcmix, and largely consists of processing the sound of the instrument. Live control allows fluid improvisational access to complex algorithms, and granular synthesis, spectral delays and other types of delays and processing are programmed in RTcmix. Preprocessed sub-layers allow for maximum freedom in sound, while surface layers under gestural control keep the sound spontaneous. The two performers interact and improvise within an agreed upon structure.

Irresistible Flux is a new composition composed and performed by Mara Helmuth, computer, and Esther Lamneck, tarogato. The piece begins with a transformed Hungarian folk melody. The digital transformations of sound which are all based on the tarogato, caress, entice, persuade, vex and oppose the tarogato part to create an expanded 8-channel environment.

The discussion will include an in-depth look at the RTcmix and MaxMSP programming, Mara Helmuth’s granular synthesis techniques, spatial and timbral aspects, control strategies and parameter mapping. We will also consider the use of folk materials. More general topics will include the design of interactive systems, and freedom versus precision in scores and performance directions in interactive situations.

bio

Mara Helmuth (Margaret Mathilda Helmuth) composes music often involving the computer, and creates multimedia and software for composition and improvisation. Her recordings include Sounding Out! (Everglade), Sound Collaborations, (CDCM v.36, Centaur CRC 2903), Implements of Actuation (Electronic Music Foundation EMF 023), and works included on Open Space CD 16 and the 50^th Anniversary University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios commemorative collection. Her music has been performed internationally at conferences, festivals and arts spaces. She is Professor in composition at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati and Director of the Center for Computer Music. She holds a D.M.A. from Columbia University, and earlier degrees (M.M., B.A.) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her software for composition and improvisation has involved granular synthesis, user interfaces, Internet2, and contributions to the RTcmix music programming language. Her writings have appeared in the monographs Audible Traces and Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music, and in the Journal of New Music Research and Perspectives of New Music. Recent installation works include Hidden Mountain (2007) and Staircase of Light (2003), created originally for the Sino-Nordic Arts Space in Beijing. She is a recent president of the International Computer Music Association. She also plays the piano and performs interactive works on computer. She participated in Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening Retreats in 2000 and 2010. Her interest in Zen, Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese culture has taken her to remote monasteries and mountains.

26.Mar.14 Percussion recital by Luis Tabuenca.

Percussionist Luis Tabuenca, currently in residence @ NYU will be performing works by Elizabeth Hoffman, Jaime Oliver La Rosa, You Nakai (NO COLLECTIVE), Globokar, and by Tabuenca himself.

This concert will present a wide range of works that resulted from collaborations with NYU composers during Spring 2014.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 26th, 8:00PM
WHERE: NYU Music Department
24 Waverly Place, Room 220, NY 10003

25.Mar.14 Guest Lecture: Zach Seldess on Spatial Sound

Adventures and Challenges in Spatial Sound: a discussion of common assumptions and constraints, and a smattering of idiosyncratic “solutions” through recent artistic and applied research

- by Zachary Seldess -

WHEN: Tuesday, March 25th, 12:30PM (composition seminar)
WHERE: NYU Music Department
24 Waverly Place, Room 220, NY 10003

abstract

In this talk, Zachary will present his recent artistic research in spatial sound. These projects will be discussed:

“A Head of View”: a multi-player hybrid real-space/game-space sound installation.
“Stampede”: large-scale high-performance graphics and data-driven sound design software
A MaxMSP port of Meyer Sound’s SpaceMap™: a unique spatial sound design dealing in spatial “maps”

The act of authoring sound for space is, consciously or not, built upon on a broad series of assumptions and requirements ranging from the purely artistic/conceptual to the technical/practical.

How will audio be “delivered”? Is the delivery method even known at the time of authoring?

How will sounds inhabit and behave within space? Will they conform to real-world expectations in terms of location or behave in ways that stretch or defy the laws of physics?

Is the sound space a virtual extension of the listener’s real-space? Is it a sonic extension of a real or synthetic 3D visual space projected onto a flat surface in either 2D or 3D?

These and many, many more issues inform and constrain our experience in spatial sound design, composition, and performance.

bio

Zachary Seldess (b. 1976), a Chicago native now living in San Diego by way of New York City and Saudi Arabia, is a programmer, media artist, composer, and teacher.

As a composer and programmer, Zachary has collaborated with artists in many mediums including theater, dance, film, and poetry. He has presented interactive installations at Gallery Aferro in Newark New Jersey, ZKM (Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie) in Karlsruhe Germany, and Siggraph Asia 2009 in Yokohama Japan. His work has been published/presented in Antennae, NIME 2007 and 2011, Chamber Music America National Conference 2009, Siggraph 2011, ICAD 2011, and IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging 2014. Together with performer-composer Jane Rigler, Zachary co-designed the Manhattan New Music Project’s Music Cre8tor – an interactive educational sensor/software interface designed specifically for children with disabilities. Other projects include sound design and programming for New York-based dancer Johari Mayfield; and design of real-time multi-channel audio and video performance software for video artist Hisao Ihara. Zachary has also programmed for artists Mari Kimura, Lillian Ball, Rashaad Newsome, Cory Arcangel, Patrick Clancy, Miguel Frasconi, Rebecca Cherry, Mem1, Tobaron Waxman, Shana Moulton, and others.

Zachary currently works as Senior Audio Research Engineer at the Sonic Arts R&D Group, Qualcomm Institute, CalIT2, UC San Diego. Previously, he worked as Audio Systems Coordinator and Developer at the Visualization Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). In New York, Zachary worked at Harvestworks, teaching courses in interactive programming ranging from introductory courses in Max/MSP/Jitter and Processing to special topics such as multi-channel audio/video spatialization and live video tracking. Zachary also worked as an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College CUNY, and as a researcher at the CUNY Graduate Center’s New Media Lab, where he designed interactive pedadogical tools and artistic environments in 3D Game Space. In Chicago, Zachary worked as a performer, composer, private teacher and adjunct professor at Wilbur Wright College and Harold Washington College. In 2005, Zachary founded the Intermedia Arts Group, a collective committed to the support and performance of new and interactive media artwork within the CUNY artistic community. He is co-founder and previous co-director of the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival.

12.Mar.14 Evening Demo: Marco Donnarumma presents his Xth Sense Instrument and on the subject of emergence

The Xth Sense: Bodily Emergence as a Model for the Performance of Incarnated Sound

- by Marco Donnarumma -

WHEN: Wednesday, March 12th, 5:00PM
WHERE: NYU Music Department
24 Waverly Place, Room 220, NY 10003

abstract

In this talk, I will tackle the issue of physicality in embodied musical performance with digital instruments. I will argue that physicality is emergent. That is, physicality is constituted by a continuous transformation of the body which originates from visceral and unconscious mechanisms entangled with finished embodied actions. Originally developed by the British emergentists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the notion of emergence is used in the frame of technology-mediated music performance to motivate a composition and performance strategy that leverages and challenges the player’s physical skills. Such theoretical approach will be the demonstrated in the practical context of a performance entitled Ominous, for the biophysical musical instrument Xth Sense. This is a free and open, biotechnological instrument that captures the performer’s body bioacoustic sound and use it as both musical material and processing parameter. The Xth Sense, which I created in 2011, has been my favourite musical instrument for the past 3 years, and it is used in diverse contexts by an increasing community of artists, composers and performers.

Ominous | Incarnated sound sculpture (Xth Sense) from Marco Donnarumma on Vimeo.

http://marcodonnarumma.com

http://res.marcodonnarumma.com/projects/xth-sense/

bio

Performer, body tinkerer, biotech creator and writer Marco Donnarumma explores the dimensions of the body in relation to real, virtual and cultural space. Using natural and technological media, his works disrupt the flesh to uncover unknown traits of human nature. He is known for his wide range of body-based creations, that include intense physical performance, sound, light and video, Butoh, dance and media theatre. He makes open biotechnologies and bodily interactive systems. Currently, as a PhD student at Goldsmiths London with Atau Tanaka and Matthew Fuller, he investigates how body theory can provide perspectives on the design of combined biosensing and machine learning technologies for music and the performing arts. He is a Harvestworks Creativity + Technology = Enterprise Fellow (New York, US) with support by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Marco has performed and spoken in over 50 countries including US, South America, Europe, India, China, South Korea and Australia. His works have been selected at leading art events (ISEA, Venice Biennale, WRO Biennale), specialized festivals and venues (Transmediale, FILE, Panorama, NYEAF, Sound Art China, CYNETART, Piksel; STEIM, EMPAC, Stanford CCRMA) and major academic conferences (CHI, NIME, ICMC, Pd Con, Linux Audio). He is the editor of Biotechnological Performance Practice (eContact! 14.2), a comprehensive publication on biotech in the performing arts. His writings have appeared in the Leonardo Electronic Almanac (MIT Press), in the book “New Art/Science Affinities” (CMU, Studio for Creative Enquiry), and several times in specialised conference proceedings.

He’s the recipient of several awards, most notably, the 1st prize in the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition (Georgia Tech, US) for the biophysical instrument Xth Sense, and the 2nd prize in the Transitio New Media Art Contest (MX) for the private installation Nigredo, created with Marije Baalman. He has been artist in residence at STEIM (NL), Inspace (UK), and National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance (DK). Hiswork has been funded by the European Commission, British Council, Creative Scotland, New Media Scotland, and the Danish Arts Council. His projects have been reviewed on BBC, Forbes, Reuters, Wired, RTVE, El Pais, ResonanceFM, Weave, Create Digital Music, We Make Money Not Art and Digicult.